Abstract
Favorability methods produce a unique measure for mineral potential mapping and quantitative estimation of mineral resources. Indicator favorability theory is developed in this study to account for spatial (auto and cross) correlations of regionalized geological, geochemical, and geophysical fields based on the indicator concept. Target and explanatory indicators are introduced to describe, respectively, direct and indirect evidence of the mineralization of interest. Mineralization is represented by a combination (Θ) of a set of target indicators. Indicator favorability theory estimates a regionalized favorability function in two stages: (1) estimate a linear combination of target indicators by maximizing var(Θ) and (2) estimate favorability functionF by minimizing estimation variance var[F−Θ]. The model is established on the basis of a conceptual model of target. The favorability estimates can be justified by correlation analysis and cross validation in control areas. The indicator favorability theory is demonstrated on a case study for gold-silver mineral potential mapping based on geophysical, structural, and geochemical fields.
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